2004 Porsche Cayenne Turbo?
 

There's a decent '04 for sale near me, under 100,000 miles. Looks to be in very good shape aside from some typical issues (one door lever is broken, and he hasn't done the coolant pipes). The interior is good, he says 'zero rust'.

The car is about $5k.

Not that this is the place to be talked out of a purchase...but what do we think? I'm getting bored with my daily (very reliable) driver.

Pull the plastic rocker caps off both front fenders and check for rust, common issue in snow states.

I'm not in a snow state. I'm in a salt, snow, and brine state. I will be very careful.

But, it seems like most owners are pretty happy with their Cayennes.

As long as there is no engine ticking, do it. You will love it.

Cooling pipes are no big deal and inexpensive.

I had a ton of problems with mine. I got sick of it . Granted , it was not mainted well before our ownership .
Control arms, trans shifting issues, back hatch actuator, power window motor regulators, steering column lock , air suspension , AIR check valves and pumps, failed cats. Brake booster pipes, headlight modules . It ate me out of house and home .
Sold it at 126 k and decided Id rather put my wife in a Honda .

i am in a near constant state of flirtation with the idea of a used Cayenne. If i find a reasonably priced 2010-2015 or so pickup to do hunting/fishing/etc type duty on the weekends i will sell my newer truck and replace it with something 'sporty' and moderately fuel efficient. Cayenne seems to fit the bill on that.

This is exactly why I'm hesitating. I have a high mileage '04 Volvo V70R manual, and it is completely trouble-free. I can fix a daily driver if I have to, but I don't want to.

But your experience seems to be the exception from the owners here.

I bought my '08 6 cylinder used with high mileage (a bit over 100k) and it shifted weird between a couple gears. I ended up removing the valve chest from trans and had it rebuilt. I also had to replace a high pressure fuel pump and an electric radiator fan. Once the mileage approached 200k I started using it as my daily driver and got my wife a newer used 2013 6 cylinder which has been trouble free so far and now has about 120k on it.

My '08 now has about 240k on it and has a hunting idle which I just live with so far. I also had to repair one flex exhaust pipe on one of the manifolds. (I cut and welded a new flex piece on but it would have been expensive to to buy a new manifold)

I have been happy with both of them and they are nice to drive with plenty of power even being the base model 6 cylinders.

I owned an early Turbo and now recently got myself a 2013 958.1 GTS.

The Turbo was a nightmare to keep running as it had one issue after another. Take a look at the cost of spares and make your decision. I'd proceed with caution and do a couple of very thorough PPIs before committing to the purchase.

You have been warned....

Has the driveshaft center bearing assembly been replaced yet?

The most reliable seem to be the VR6 engines . To my knowledge no bore scoring issues and that seems to be the death tick on the V8's . I am talking up to about 2010-2012 . When Porsche went to a true V6 vs the VR6 I have no clue about their durability . If I was to buy an older ( less than 2012 ) I would look for a clean VR6 3.6 .

There is no doubt the S/GTS/Turbo have MUCH more performance under the hood but at the expense of potential $$$ repairs . Not all V8's suffer from bore scoring , but if you are the unlucky one to suffer it that can be a very pricey repair . But if you get a good one they are a fine SUV . As an old motorcycle instructor used to preach " how much risk you willing to take ) ? :D

Oops.... forgot about that. I did do the jimmy fix method of ziptying pieces of rubber hose around the center bearing a few years ago on the '08. worked perfectly and have had no issue with it since.

Cayennes are the yesteryear 944/928 of today where 3rd through 7th owners couldn't afford to fix their cool new car and did half-assed or generally poor repairs. To stack the deck in your favor, get a 2nd owner vehicle with records and pay for a dealer or Indy PPI.

And be prepared to work on it yourself, Rennlist has a great forum and these things are pretty easy to work on and many times parts are cheap. Others not as much but VW and Audi cross-referencing can save you a ton of money on parts. Sometimes I follow that advice, sometimes not like recently I put in a new from Porsche body acceleration sensor, $280 from the dealer, might have been half that for a Toureg or 3/4 for an Audi. It was an insanely easy job that took all of 3 minutes with the front wheel off, I really should call the dealer and ask for replacement cost.

Anyway, I have cars like my 251K mile BMW that has been almost trouble free forever and when something goes wrong, googling really helps. Steering got really stiff recently. Pump seemed fine but needs new fluid (murky! so changing that), checked everything but still extremely stiff. Found one guy who lubricated the U-joints connecting the steering shaft with the rack. Some Gibbs and car was back normal. There is a vibrant DIY Cayenne community and as long as you don't get a truck like Fred's, you should be fine.

I'm doing the thermostat and water pump this weekend on the Cayenne (thermostat stuck open). At 150K, I decided to put in a new $300 Bosch starter motor and while you are in there knock sensors just because I'm in there and will save me well over $300 if I have to do the job down the road.

My '10 GTS has been overall reliable over 23K miles driving long distance and around town. It is the ultimate "if you could have only one vehicle" vehicle. It does everything brilliantly. Only downside to it is it burns more gas than you could imagine. At least you have fun doing it.

Can't stress enough to get a 2nd owner car with records and pay the $300+ for a dealer PPI when you find something you like.

Good luck!

$5,000 now. $5,000 very soon after. $5,000 a little later. Etc, etc.

Yea, but in the end you have a $6k car...used car logic.

Or I could drive a Corolla.

My only regret about owning Cayennes is that I didn’t buy one years ago. I listened to all of the horror stories and BS and avoided one.

Finally, I took a chance on a cheap one (traded for a kids dirt bike and $500). My wife and I both loved it and soon bought better ones. We still have that first 04 Cayenne S. We towed our boat over 600 kms with it on Sunday to check out a lake we had not boated on before and I drove it to town today for meetings and to pick up the newly refinished wheels for my Cayenne Turbo S.

Seems like a moot point now, the guy has stopped answering my messages.

Another decision avoided.

Thank you to everyone who answered. The passive search continues.

If it could happen to him, seems like it could to anyone

You better call Baz if you ever part with that V mobile, no doubt he would be interested in giving it a forever home

Japanese are tough to beat on reliable daily drivers. Like a revolver, not going to get hung up

My buddy has an 09 GTS with a bit over 100k on it. It's been ok. He's the 3rd owner I believe. His big issues have mostly been cowl and AC drain related. Apparently a known issue with Cayenne's and Macans. His was likely stored outside and the drains plug and flood the cabin. His is currently inop due to rust on a computer under the driver's seat throwing codes. Supposedly not an expensive fix.

Most of the issues I had with ours , however were not related to poor maintenance . Air suspension and all the latches, regulators, relays, and other electrical gremlins ,I had broken wires feeding my fuse box that were a bugger to figure out . The diverter valves, and pumps, cat . I lost an air bag and sensor, then a few months later, the air ride module crapped . All of it ate a lot of money and time . The headlight modules went out , not terribly expensive, but need to be replaced in pairs, and programmed .
There is a lot you can do with a medium duty scanner, but there are a some things, that only PIWIS can do, so that leaves out quite a bit of DIY .
I guess if you get a good one you are good to go , but don't be fooled, The first year cayenne was a complicated beast for its time . It had every doo dad gunter and dieter could throw at it , and its all similar in quality to any vag car from that era. A lot of it is failure prone at that age and there is a lot of it to fail .
I actually replaced it with a yukon denali. Almost as fast, super easy to own .
I think Shauns advice is spot on . I was not afraid to own one, and I went in with my eyes wide open, but I lost the cayenne lottery on that one